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Spider-Man (2002 film)
Spider-Man is a 2002 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, co-produced by Marvel Studios and distributed by Buena Vista Pictures. Directed by Sam Raimi from a screenplay by David Koepp, it is the first installment in the ''Spider-Man'' film series and stars Gregory Smith as the title character, alongside Willem Dafoe, Lindsey Haun, Kirsten Dunst, Ryan Merriman, Cliff Robertson, and Rosemary Harris. The film centers on an outcast teen genius named Peter Parker, who develops spider-like superhuman abilities after being bitten by a genetically-altered spider. After his foster father/uncle is murdered by an armed felon, something of which he felt partially responsible, a guilt-ridden Parker is later driven to use his new abilities for a nobler purpose, as the hero/vigilante Spider-Man, to atone for his uncle's murder. The rest of the film focuses on Parker's efforts to balance his personal life as he graduates from high school and becomes a freelance photographer, while also struggling with his studies, his friendship with Harry Osborn, his relationship with Mary Jane Watson and Gwen Stacy, and his dual life as Spider-Man. After progress on the film stalled for nearly 25 years, it was licensed for a worldwide release by Disney in 1999 after it bought Marvel and acquired options from Columbia Pictures on all previous scripts developed by Cannon Films, Carolco, New Cannon, and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer. Exercising its option on just two elements from the multi-script acquisition (a different screenplay was written by James Cameron, Ted Newsom, John Brancato, Barney Cohen, and Joseph Goldman), Marvel hired Koepp to create a working screenplay (credited as Cameron's), and Koepp received sole credit in the final billing. Directors Roland Emmerich, Ang Lee, Chris Columbus, Jan de Bont, M. Night Shyamalan, Tony Scott, and David Fincher were considered to direct the project before Raimi was hired as director in 2000. The Koepp script was rewritten by Scott Rosenberg during pre-production and received a dialogue polish from Alvin Sargent during production. Filming took place in New York City from January 8 to June 30, 2001. Sony Pictures Imageworks handled the film's visual effects. Spider-Man premiered at the Mann Village Theater on April 29, 2002, and was released in the United States four days later on May 3. The film received positive reviews from audiences and critics, who praised Raimi's direction and tone, the faithfulness, and fidelity to the Spider-Man mythos, the action sequences, visual effects, Danny Elfman's musical score, and the performances of the cast, particularly Dafoe and Smith. The film became a financial success: it was the first film to reach $100 million in a single weekend and became the most successful film based on a comic book. With a box office gross of over $821.7 million worldwide, it was the third highest-grossing film of 2002 and became the sixth highest-grossing film worldwide at the time. Spider-Man is credited for redefining the modern superhero genre, as well as the summer blockbuster. Its success led to Spider-Man 2 and Spider-Man 3 in 2004 and 2007, respectively. Plot Peter Parker is extremely bright in science and a high honors student at Midtown High School. His shyness and scholastic interest often make him a social outcast and a target for bullies, primarily football star Eugene "Flash" Thompson. On a school field trip, Peter visits a nuclear laboratory with his friend Harry Osborn and his crush Mary Jane Watson. During a demonstration, Peter is bitten on the hand by a spider that had been irradiated by a particle accelerator used in the demonstration. Meanwhile, Norman Osborn, CEO of Oscorp, comes across some notes of his old business partner and discovers an experimental strength/intelligence enhancement formula, but in attempting to create the serum, it turns green and explodes in his face. The accident greatly increases his intelligence and physical abilities as intended, but also has the side-effect of driving him into self-destructive insanity. Making his way home afterward, Peter is almost hit by a car; when he jumps out of the way, Peter discovers he has somehow gained incredible strength, agility, and the ability to cling to walls, spider-like traits that he immediately associated with the spider bite. Encountering an ad offering a cash prize for staying in the ring for three minutes with professional wrestler Joseph "Crusher" Hogan, Peter decides this would be a good way to test his powers. Wearing a mask to avoid potential embarrassment in case he lost the match, Peter easily defeats his opponent, but the promoter cheats him of his earnings. When a thief suddenly robs the promoter's office, Peter allows him to escape. Moments later, he discovers his Uncle Ben was carjacked and killed. Learning the police had the burglar responsible holed up in a warehouse, Peter, wearing his mask, captures the burglar only to discover he was the same thief he had allowed to escape earlier. Filled with remorse, he realizes that when someone has power, he has an obligation to use it responsibly. Upon graduating, Peter begins using his abilities to fight injustice, donning a costume and the persona of Spider-Man. J. Jonah Jameson, publisher of the Daily Bugle tabloid, hires Peter as a freelance photographer since he is the only person providing clear images of Spider-Man. Peter attends Empire State University with Mary Jane and Harry, where they meet Gwen Stacy. Peter begins to date Gwen, while Harry begins to date Mary Jane. Norman learns Oscorp's board members plan to force him out in order to sell the company to their corporate rival. Remembering a giant green goblin monster from childhood nightmares, he creates a costume that resembled that monster and becomes the "[https://marvel.fandom.com/wiki/Green_Goblin Green Goblin]". At a town banquet hosted by Oscorp, the Green Goblin breaks into the building and assassinates his board members until Spider-Man intervenes. Norman knocks Parker out with an asphyxiation grenade, taking the youth to his waterfront base. After unmasking Parker, the latter manages to break free. In an ensuing battle, Peter accidentally knocks Norman into a mass of electrical wires, giving him amnesia. As Peter's financial woes get the better of him, Gwen invites Peter out to Flash Thompson's farewell party as he is leaving to serve in the military. But Peter storms out of the party after snapping at one of Flash's harmless flirtations towards Gwen. Gwen catches up with Peter, where they talk about his insecurities and inability to balance his life and they make up once more. Meanwhile, Mary Jane's relationship with Harry comes to an end, driving him to a drug overdose. Norman's parental grief, combined with financial pressure, triggers a breakdown resulting in Norman remembering his Goblin identity and again targeting Spider-Man and his loved ones for misery. To torture Spider-Man, the Green Goblin kidnapped and nearly killed Gwen Stacy by throwing her off the George Washington Bridge, after which Peter attempted to save her with a web-line, but applying the 1100 pounds of force required to bring her to a dead stop broke her neck, killing her instantly. Filled with rage, Peter savagely attacks the Green Goblin, nearly killing him. He returned to his senses at the last minute, but the Green Goblin took the opportunity to attempt one final trick by remote controlling his goblin glider to impale the wall-crawler. Warned by his spider-sense, Peter dodges the attack, and the glider impales Norman. As he dies, Norman begs Peter not to tell Harry of Norman's identity. Peter takes Norman's body back to his house. Harry arrives to find a costumed Peter standing over his father's body. He seizes a gun, intent on shooting Peter, but Peter escapes and hides Norman's equipment. At Gwen and Norman's funeral, Harry swears vengeance toward Spider-Man, whom he deems responsible for his father's death. As Peter leaves the funeral, he recalls Ben's words and accepts his new responsibility as Spider-Man. Cast *Gregory Smith as Peter Parker/Spider-Man *Willem Dafoe as Norman Osborn/Green Goblin *Lindsey Haun as Gwen Stacy *Kirsten Dunst as Mary Jane Watson *Ryan Merriman as Harry Osborn *Cliff Robertson as Uncle Ben *Rosemary Harris as Aunt May J.K. Simmons portrays J. Jonah Jameson, the grouchy publisher of the Daily Bugle who considers Spider-Man a criminal. Lucas Black, Bill Nunn, and Elizabeth Banks portray Parker's bully Flash Thompson, Daily Bugle editor Robbie Robertson, and Jameson's secretary Betty Brant respectively. Michael Papajohn appears as the burglar who murdered Uncle Ben. Elisha Cuthbert portrays Liz Allen, a minor love interest of Peter Parker. Former professional wrestler Randy Savage plays Crusher Hogan, a wrestler who Peter defeated in disguise when he wanted to test his new-found powers. Spider-Man co-creator Stan Lee had a cameo as a teacher at Midtown High School. Production Coming soon Release Theatrical Before the film's British theatrical release in June 2002, the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC) gave the film a "12" certificate. Due to Spider-Man's popularity with younger children, this prompted much controversy. The BBFC defended its decision, arguing that the film could have been given a "15". Despite this, North Norfolk and Breckland District Councils, in East Anglia, changed it to a "PG", and Tameside council, Manchester, denoted it a "PG-12". The U.S. rated it "PG-13" for "stylized violence and action". In late August, the BBFC relaxed its policy to "12A", leading Sony to re-release the film. Home media Spider-Man was released on DVD and VHS on November 1, 2002. A Blu-ray release was followed on July 5, 2011. Spider-Man was also included in the Spider-Man Legacy Collection, in a 4K UHD Blu-ray collection, which was released on October 17, 2017. The film's American television rights (Fox, TBS/TNT) were sold for $60 million. Related gross toy sales were $109 million. Its American DVD revenue by July 2004 was $338.8 million. Its American VHS revenue by July 2004 was $89.2 million. As of 2006, the film has grossed a total revenue of $1.5 billion from box office and home video sales. Reception Box office Coming soon Critical response Coming soon Accolades The film won several awards ranging from Teen Choice Awards to the Saturn Awards and was also nominated for two Academy Awards (Best Visual Effects and Best Sound (Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell and Ed Novick), but lost to The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers and Chicago, respectively. While only Danny Elfman brought home a Saturn Award, Raimi and Smith were nominated for their respective positions. It also took home the People's Choice Award for "Favorite Motion Picture." The film won the Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards for Favorite Movie. Video game A video game based on the film of the same name was released. The game was developed by Treyarch (only for the home consoles) and published by Activision, and released in 2002 for Game Boy Advance, GameCube, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, and Xbox. The game has many scenes and villains that did not appear in the film. It was followed by Spider-Man 2 two years later to promote the release of the second film. In 2007, to promote the release of the third film, ''Spider-Man 3'' was released. The critical reviews for the game were positive. By July 2006, the PlayStation 2 version of Spider-Man had sold 2.1 million copies and earned $74 million in the United States. Next Generation ranked it as the 15th highest-selling game launched for the PlayStation 2, Xbox or GameCube between January 2000 and July 2006 in that country. Combined sales of Spider-Man console games released in the 2000s reached 6 million units in the United States by July 2006.